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13th Week in Ordinary Time

Date:

Thu, 07/06/2017

Author:

Rev. Msgr. Donald Enzweiler

It is our hope, it is our prayer, that the journey of our life will not end in the darkness of death
but will end in the bright light of God’s eternal glory.
We look forward in time, we fix our eyes on Jesus Christ,
believing that our feet will take us where are eyes are directed.
But more than our eyes, we fix our hearts, our souls, our minds, our attention on Jesus Christ.
We fix our desires, our intentions, our will on Him, on His ways, on his message, on his example.

This response of dedication and devotion, however, is not our salvation.
These are human activities, human attitudes,
and nothing human is able to save us from evil and sin and darkness.
What is divine in origin, and only what is divine, is our salvation.

The means of our salvation is God’s love, God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness.
Without divine help there is no salvation. Jesus Christ is our divine help.
The message of Jesus is a message of mercy and of forgiveness.
Jesus proclaims God’s mercy and offers to the world God’s forgiveness.
Those who accept and experience divine forgiveness receive new life.
This new life can be seen, and is detectible by others.

With Jesus Christ comes a new age, new time, a new era. We are children of this new age.
Certain attitudes mark the behavior, the operation, of those who would live in this new age:
- love is shown without an expectation of it being returned.
- there is lending where there is little hope of repayment.
- resources are given without reserve or limit.
- forgiveness is offered unconditionally.
All these things are based upon a new relationship with God.
A new covenant has been established between God and His people.

This new relationship, this new covenant, provides the stage upon which
a new relationship between and among human beings is lived out.
As believers, as Christians, we accept the fact of our sinfulness
and realize the need to constantly come before God asking forgiveness.
We also realize the need to constantly seek a new readiness to forgive others.
In other words, while on this earth, we will sin against God in our weakness and imperfection.
Just so, while on this earth, there will never be a time when others stop sinning against us
and/or we stop sinning against others.
One of the tasks of living within the new age of salvation is to seek forgiveness
and to offer unconditional forgiveness.
Such forgiveness is a sign that “we get it!”..that we understand what it means to live under the rule Christ.

The world’s response to such forgiveness is contempt and ill will: “are you nuts?”
The world will reject such mercy as a sign of weakness and even insanity…
a psychological sickness, an unreasonable and illogical response.
And so the task of the believer is to respond sacrificially:
- do good to those who hate you.
- return a blessing for a curse.
- pray for persecutors.
- intercede for a hostile world which hates God and destroys His people.
…all because we believe that human forgiveness inspired by divine love makes a difference
as it serves the purpose of eternal salvation.

Today’s prayer: “O Lord, we put You first in our lives. You are the power, You are the means through which all human activity is assessed and judged. Your love for this world is realized in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ Your Son. May His example show us, and keep us on, the path of forgiveness. Help us to adjust our lives according to His ways. Amen!”